


Monster

by SharkAria



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Age Difference, Dom/sub Undertones, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Future Fic, Gaslighting, He-Man universe elements, Imprisonment, Light Bondage, Loneliness, Masturbation, Non-Consensual Bondage, Non-Consensual Voyeurism, Post-War, Power Dynamics, Power Imbalance, Sexual Fantasy, Sexual Frustration, There's lots of healthy consensual sex too I promise, Threats of Violence, age gaps amongst adults, non-con elements, non-explicit PTSD elements, written prior to Season 5
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:28:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21815926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharkAria/pseuds/SharkAria
Summary: Queen Glimmer extracts a promise from prisoner and one-time tormentor Horde Prime over best friend Bow’s objections.  Prime schemes, casting doubt on Glimmer’s longtime allies.  Hordak and Entrapta get it on. A lot.OR: How Queen Glimmer develops a super inappropriate crush, out-manipulates Prime, and learns about healthy relationships through the instructional power of voyeurism.  She saves the universe again, too.Please read the tags/warnings to make sure this fic is for you.
Relationships: Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra), Glimmer & Horde Prime, Glimmer/Horde Prime (She-Ra)
Comments: 47
Kudos: 128





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ADULT CONTENT: This story begins several years after show canon ends; Queen Glimmer is a powerful adult politician in her mid-20s or older; all other characters are older. Characters tagged in this story think about, discuss, and/or engage in the activities listed in the tags. Some of these characters have age gaps, but they are all adults and have been for years in this story. Proceed with caution and/or do not read this fic if you are not age 18+ and/or if you are concerned about things tagged or described here. 
> 
> JUST TO BE CLEAR: I wrote a story about fictional adult characters thinking about and doing immoral things, but that does not mean that I, the author, think those things are good ideas.
> 
> THANK YOU [sympathy_for_hordak_(citrus_quill)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/citrus_quill/pseuds/sympathy_for_hordak) for your kind, helpful beta-ing of this fic! You took this thing from Horde green to Bright Moon sparkle! 
> 
> ***I wrote the first 4 chapters before Season 5 came out, so there's some canon divergence that you might notice. Oh well!***
> 
> AND FINALLY: I made up whatever I wanted with the He-Man stuff, so don't expect canonical accuracy on that front :)

“Oh, it’s you,” Horde Prime says from the corner of his cell. With his broad back against the grimy wall, the top half of his face is concealed in the shadows, but his green lips glow under the single overhead light. “I thought I scared you off the last time.”

“You haven’t scared me in years,” Glimmer lies. The door slams shut behind her, and she clenches her fist to keep it from shaking. 

“For the ruler of the universe’s most magical, most technologically advanced planet, you spend an inordinate amount of time with me in the dungeon.” Prime scratches his long, dirty claws across the fabric of his shapeless prisoner’s garment. “I understand, though. I was once in your position. I know that with great power comes terrible loneliness.”

He always knows how to prod her weak spots. "Let me worry about my social life,” Glimmer says quietly. She forces herself to approach the impenetrable light curtain that cuts across the cell.

Prime groans as he leans forward and shifts into a crouch. Even with his bare shoulders hunched and his once proud head hanging down, he is nearly as tall as an average Etherian standing at full height. “You do need to worry, don’t you? It’s been some time since you’ve brought your boyfriend with the arrows down here to ‘intimidate’ me.”

“Not that it’s your business, but he’s not my boyfriend.” The last person Glimmer wants to think about is Bow, who called her crazy for trying to negotiate with Prime. She’s still waiting for the apology, and she hasn’t spoken to Bow since he left on the Trollan mission with Entrapta. “Are you going to give me what I need or not?”

“I told you before -- under a truth spell, I might add -- that I do not intend to order Skeletor to submit to you.” Prime rubs his long-empty upper eye socket with the heel of his hand. “Not without an offer of something worthwhile in return.” 

Glimmer snorts and gestures around the windowless room. “If you haven’t noticed, you’re not exactly in a position to bargain.” 

“And neither are you, so long as my underling from Snake Mountain continues to fight against you in the name of the Horde.” He rises and approaches the light curtain. "Besides, you know what I want.”

Glimmer steps back, even though it’s a stupid reflex; no one, not even Prime, can break through the magical barrier. She squares her shoulders and wills herself forward until she stands no more than an arm span’s distance from the Horde leader. "I'm not handing Hordak over to you. I watched you wipe his mind. Who knows what you would do to him so you could escape?”

“You think I want to use that defect to escape.” Prime closes his three remaining eyes and sighs. “How disappointing.” 

“He’s your brother, not a defect." _And all he ever wanted was your love,_ she thinks. 

“I don’t want to escape with my clone,” Prime reiterates with an unhinged gleam in his eyes. “I want to vivisect him, like I should have done when he came crawling back to me. Except this time, I will do it while his purple princess looks on, before I tear her apart as well." Prime winces and pats his scalp. The remains of his snakelike cables are wrapped in an unbreakable, paralyzing mesh that Entrapta designed and installed herself after she ripped off his needles. “Simple escape could not compare to the satisfaction of destroying those two.”

“I’ll never let you touch Entrapta,” Glimmer growls. “Or Hordak. Or any of my people.” 

“Your _people_ are exhausted from decades of battle,” Prime sneers. “Without my help, it’s only a matter of time before Etheria once again submits to the collar of the Horde."

Glimmer imagines Skeletor, with his hollow eyes and skinless face, reclining on the Bright Moon throne while Prime soars above in his spaceship. She blinks away the image.

“As a matter of fact, I can offer you something greater than you deserve, and better than the stupid revenge you’re scheming.” She adjusts the diadem at her forehead and takes a deep breath and tries not to think about Prime’s face cradling her palm all those years ago, the one and only time he actually touched her. “I propose to release you and your remaining followers onto a livable but uninhabited planet that my scientists will send to Despondos. You’ll be free, but the Horde will never again threaten Etheria after you’re sealed away. For the gift of freedom, all you have to do is command Skeletor to go there with you.”

Prime glances at a jagged blue scar that traverses the length of his arm. “Surely you understand why I doubt the sincerity of your offer.”

“That’s different. I gave you those injuries in battle.” She brushes her bangs back to reveal the pale seam at her hairline. “You did the same to me."

He raises one eyebrow. "Still, I have no interest in your proposal.”

Glimmer slams the butt of her staff against the floor, sending forth a burst of sparkles. "You’d rather rot here than live freely in Despondos?"

“You’d rather fight another war than give up my broken clone?” Prime leans over so that his forehead nearly touches the light curtain. “Have you forgotten what he did to your people just a few years ago?”

“Of course I haven’t forgotten,” Glimmer answers, her voice wavering, regret filling her mouth even as she says the words.

Prime smiles coldly. “You remember the decades of my brother’s violence, yet now you protect him and claim him as a loyal subject. You’re either naive, or you’re lying.” 

If Glimmer is being honest with herself, she has had her doubts about Hordak over the years. But after the war King Regent Micah pardoned the former conqueror for helping save Queen Angella, and once her own father offered forgiveness, Glimmer figured she had to do the same. 

But it’s impossible for Prime to know any of that. Isn’t it?

“Hordak is none of your concern,” Glimmer finally says.

“Of course he is,” Prime scoffs. “If he overthrows you, he’ll come after me next. He would never keep me alive as you have, not after I nearly killed his lover. I must destroy him out of self-preservation. Revenge is a tangential benefit.”

Glimmer doesn’t need to cast a spell to know that Prime speaks the truth about that. But she says instead, “You know nothing about my allies.”

Prime shrugs. His shoulder pops, and he winces again. "I ruled over my former enemies for much longer than you have.” He turns away, eases himself down to the floor with a grimace, and slouches into the shadows once again. “Don’t discount the threat my brother presents to you, little queen.”

Glimmer turns away and flips her cape over her shoulder as her mind reels. “Tell the guard if you change your mind about Skeletor and Despondos.” She stalks toward the exit.

The door opens, and Glimmer hears Prime’s voice behind her. "Why is it, little queen, that in all the times you’ve come to visit, you’ve never threatened to kill me?"

She turns just enough to respond, but she doesn’t meet his eyes. "I'm a good guy, remember?" 

His cruel laughter echoes behind her as she steps across the threshold, and the door slams shut.

In the hallway with her guards, Glimmer collapses against the wall, her entire body trembling. She catches her breath and waves off her attendants, and then she commands, “Get me access to all of Hordak’s files. Immediately.”


	2. Chapter 2

Glimmer isn’t sure what to expect when she starts snooping through Hordak’s digital communications, but what she finds is a vast collection of explicit holograms her one-time nemesis has been exchanging with his genius girlfriend.

“Wow, Hordak, you're a freak,” Glimmer says to her empty chamber as she lays on a sun-warmed cushion and scrolls through the trove of dirty images, most of which have been tagged with descriptions like “Topless FOR SCIENCE” and “Imagining your soft lips on my big blue cock per your previous request.” If Bow was on Etheria at the moment and if Glimmer was on speaking terms with him, she would immediately share this horrifying, yet hilarious knowledge with him. 

Hordak is a freak, alright, but not, as far as Glimmer can tell from his files, a betrayer of Bright Moon’s trust. He hardly sends anything to anyone at all besides Entrapta, and the two of them seem to limit their topics of discussion to science and sex. Sometimes both at the same time.

Glimmer keeps investigating. She opens a text-only file from Hordak to Entrapta entitled simply, “Thinking of you.” The data stamp indicates that Hordak recently sent it from the Beast Island outpost where he and Entrapta have set up their own palace/laboratory. Entrapta has already opened the message, having received it on her spaceship in the Trollan system. 

_My dearest Entrapta,_ Hordak has written.

_I know you prefer visuals to the written word, but a pooka dismantled my aperture, and I haven’t yet had the opportunity to replace it._

_Imp conveys his greetings to you. It’s clear that he misses your chin scratches. Emily is still getting into fights with the razor-fins, though I’ve told her again and again that they’ll go away if she ignores them. Celeste demands that you bring back a Trollan water ray for her ever expanding anti-beast arsenal. At least I think that is what she wants; I still can’t really understand the robot you invented here on the island._

_As for me, I am filling my hours with research on those crystals we found in the central cavern. I’ve made an important discovery that will enhance our sorcerers’ inconsistent magical abilities, and I will share it with you when you return._

_Speaking of which, you left just thirty days ago, but it seems much longer. I have no right to complain, of course. I could be confined to a prison cell like my brother instead of enjoying my freedom in the home we’ve built together._

_And yet, tonight, I confess dissatisfaction at your absence. I cannot suppress my desire to taste your lips, to hear your voice, to feel your hair brushing across my skin and holding me firm against our bedroom wall . . ._

The letter goes on like that for a long time, and somehow reading paragraph after paragraph of adoring words is even more uncomfortable than looking at all the holos. Glimmer’s face burns hot from secondhand embarrassment. She continues searching for any language that hints at flickering loyalty to the crown, but Hordak has written only tender words to Entrapta. Finally he concludes,

_Please keep sending me holos, even though they are a poor substitute for having you here in my arms and in my bed. I am eager for your return._

_With sincerity, your Hordak_

Glimmer tosses the tablet onto the plush rug and groans. The nudes were bad enough, but the shmoopy love letter? What would Prime say?

 _My clone is broken and weak, desperate for the attention of those with superior abilities,_ probably. _Just like you, playing at your rule of Etheria, all alone and afraid._

"Ugh!" Glimmer huffs. She’s been so stupid. How could she have allowed Prime to pour poison into her ears?

After a snack and a bath, Glimmer resumes her royal duties. But the memories of Hordak’s correspondence float through her mind as she meets with advisers, and as she stops by the garden to harvest spell ingredients, and as she practices enchantment circles. She can’t help but feel a little envy, since no one has ever written _her_ a letter like that. Definitely not a certain stupid best friend who won’t even admit that he’s wrong.

It’s not until late at night when she’s lying on her mattress, failing to fall asleep, that she finally sees how plainly Prime has manipulated her into acting against a clearly loyal subject in spite of her better judgment. 

Fine. Good for Prime. She can do the same thing to him.

She just has to figure out how.

*_*_*_*

“You were wrong about Hordak,” Glimmer taunts a few days later, as part of her fact-finding mission. Just beyond the light curtain in Prime's dungeon, Glimmer has conjured a chair -- a trick she learned from Shadow Weaver, before the sorceress got sucked into the space between dimensions forever -- and she’s working hard to appear as though she feels totally relaxed.

Prime hasn't once looked up from examining his claws. He lies on his side on the cold hard floor with his arm crooked and his head propped in his hand. “Did you assign someone to spy on him, or did you snoop around on your own?” 

_Sound annoyed and off-balance,_ she reminds herself. “That doesn’t matter. But I can say without question that your brother is loyal to me.”

Prime pops his jaw. “Loyal to _you_? Or to the purple girl?” He stretches a long lean arm and makes a fist and curls it back toward himself. His bicep bulges.

Glimmer glares at him and crosses one leg over the other. “To me,” she spits.

Prime deigns to swivel one eye in her direction. “I probed the recesses of my brother’s mind.” He strokes his sharp chin. “I saw his pathetic, shameful desires. I learned about every disgusting thing he fantasized about that woman, all the ways he wanted her to debase him." He shifts his other two eyes to meet Glimmer's. "Do you have a similar depth of knowledge?”

 _I know more about that topic than you do now._ Glimmer leans forward. “Hordak’s _love_ for Entrapta is obvious to everyone. That doesn’t mean he’ll betray me.” 

“Not unless his new mistress finds a cause more captivating than yours. Then she’ll leave, and he’ll follow.” Prime sits up and rests an elbow on his knee. “Is that not what happened once before?” 

“It’s not your job to concern yourself with Entrapta,” Glimmer says, too fast. Prime’s got to be wrong there. Entrapta has always acted deeply grateful to Glimmer for allowing Hordak to live on Beast Island instead of locking him up forever. She stands and puts her hands on her hips. “The Despondos offer won’t last much longer.”

“Yet you continue to offer it. You must be losing more battles.” Prime scratches the space between the bones in his forearm with the claw of his thumb, and Glimmer shudders. “I do not intend to order Skeletor to submit to you, little queen. Unless, of course --”

“I know, I know, unless I let you invade Hordak’s mind.”

“Or yours,” he suggests with a tilt of his head.

Glimmer stares at Prime baldly. She doesn’t bother to hide her surprise. “Mine?”

"Yes. Yours.” He rises slowly. His joints crackle, and he grunts in pain as he approaches.

She grinds her teeth. _Remain calm. Play stupid._ “You won’t find anything to help you escape in my mind. I don’t know the manual override codes that you need to open doors, and you have to be born with teleportation powers. So why do you --”

“I’m bored,” Prime interrupts. “Despondos is just a different kind of imprisonment, and escape on Etheria means nothing to me without my fleet. But I am curious to learn more about the only ruler who has ever bested me. After all this time I’ve grown a begrudging respect for your abilities.” 

She should be insulted that he thinks such flattery could work on her, but her traitorous face blooms with heat.

“Is that so,” she says. _Prove to me how idiotic and desperate and lonely you think I am. Give me an opening._

He does. “I think you want more than power over Skeletor. Otherwise, why keep visiting me?” He swipes his tongue across one jagged incisor as he smiles down at her. “Perhaps there is something more I can give you. Some gift from one great leader to another.”

“No.” The image of Entrapta pinning Hordak to the wall flashes in her mind. Her voice quavers as she adds, “I don’t want anything else from you.”

Prime is so close that the warmth of his body penetrates the light curtain. “If that’s true, then why are you down here with me, instead of upstairs on your throne?” 

_I do not intend to order Skeletor to submit to you, little queen._ Glimmer stares up into Prime’s unblinking eyes. He’s said the words the exact same way, each and every time, truth spell or no. Oh. What if --? _Oh --!_

Glimmer suppresses the sudden urge to reach through the curtain and throttle him as the revelation courses through her. Of course _this_ is how she has to get what she wants from him. _Of course._ “Maybe you have a point," she says quietly. Hopefully she sounds convincing. "I want the power you had for so long. I just can’t figure out how to get it on my own.” Her voice comes out breathier than she intends.

"Let me into your mind,” he says low, hypnotically. “We can both get what we want."

“Not your way.” She brushes the hair out of her eyes. “There’s another spell. Less risk of you resetting my brain.”

Prime’s brow twitches, and he scratches behind his ear with a claw. “As you wish.”

Glimmer inhales. “The next time I come visit you.” 

“It will be my pleasure,” Prime murmurs, his mouth a thin line of green. And perhaps it is Glimmer’s imagination, but his voice seems to come out edged with a rasp.

Glimmer steps back and waves her hand over the chair so that it dissolves in the air and reconstitutes as her staff. Then she closes her eyes and summons her magic and disappears in a shower of sparkles.

She reappears in the war room, startling several attendants. "Contact Lord Hordak and Princess Entrapta and bring them up on the screen so that I can speak with them privately,” she demands. “I think I know what we must do to stop Skeletor for good."


	3. Chapter 3

“Alright. You both have your orders,” Glimmer says to the split image of Entrapta and Hordak on the display screen above the holographic war table where she sits. Her two allies nod. “Princess Entrapta, check in after you and Bow have made your excuses to the Trollans and land in Eternia. Lord Hordak, report to Bright Moon in two days after you’ve prepared the crystal powder. I’ll let you know if I extract further information of strategic value from the prisoner.” She shuts off the feed before either of them can respond. 

Glimmer rolls her shoulders and flops over the armrest of the Queen’s chair. She can do this. She can deceive Prime, neutralize Skeletor, and bring lasting peace to the galaxy. 

She just has to invent a totally new spell that’s never been used before. And not vomit and/or blush when she tries to cast it on Prime while he pretends to seduce her with his power.

In any event, she’ll need to talk to the mages in Mystacor’s re-established Sorcerer's Guild, both to confirm her suspicions about how Prime sidestepped her truth spell before and to get help with crafting something stronger that takes advantage of Hordak’s crystal findings. She presses a button on the control panel that is supposed to open a new feed on the screen, but something buzzes and the display shorts out. 

Hordak and Entrapta are speaking, even though the screen remains blank. Evidently, the two of them didn’t log off after Glimmer did. From their continued conversation, it’s clear they don’t realize that anyone can hear them.

Entrapta’s nasally voice echoes through the room. “I don’t know, Hordak, I’m no good at political stuff. Why can’t Bow --”

“Bow isn't Etheria's lead scientist,” Hordak says, his voice as low as Prime’s, but with a gentle tone that his older brother would never use. “The Eternian King and Queen must hear the proposal from you.”

“Yeah. Sure. Also, the Queen refuses to answer any of Bow’s messages for some reason.”

 _It’s not my fault! All he has to do is apologize!_ Glimmer mentally defends herself.

Entrapta coughs. “I wish you were here to help. I’m just -- worked up about it.”

There’s a pause and some kind of shuffling. Then Hordak says, “I wish I were there, as well. I am also -- worked up.”

“Why? You already have the crystals that the queen wants. Just grind them up and run them through the magiplasmotic inverter. I tuned the machine before I left, it’ll be fine.”

“It’s not about our new orders. It’s seeing you on my screen after we’ve been apart.” His voice cracks slightly as he continues, “Your visage is quite -- compelling.”

Glimmer thumps her palm to her forehead. Hordak thinks _that_ is a compliment? How is he possibly the clone of the incredibly smooth talking Prime?

Entrapta seems to like Hordak’s words, though. “You look good too! Your eyes appear especially red today.” Apparently their flirting styles are compatible.

There’s another moment of uncomfortable silence, and Glimmer can almost hear the two of them blushing. For a couple who sends sexy pictures back and forth all the time, they are awfully awkward on the screen with each other.

Hordak finally breaks the quiet. “I’ve been thinking about the last night we were together, before you left on your mission.”

“Oh. Neat,” Entrapta responds. It’s hard to tell if the princess is feeling shy, or if she is simply losing interest in the conversation. 

“And I liked the way you pressed your lips to my neck . . .”

“Right,” Entrapta agrees.

Hordak seems to thirst for feedback. “Was there -- was there something you enjoyed that evening?” 

Glimmer almost feels sorry for him. 

Entrapta remains silent. Perhaps the princess has completely forgotten all about Hordak and is now engaged in some other activity. But suddenly she says, very loudly, “I liked how you came all over my bare chest when I performed oral sex on you. Did you enjoy that?”

Gross. Gross. Gross. It's way too much information. It's a mental image that is worse than all the dirty holos. And yet -- Glimmer can’t quite bring herself to cut off the feed.

Hordak makes a sort of strangled noise. “Yes, I enjoyed that. Greatly.”

Entrapta seems to be paying more attention again, and maybe even getting into it. “I also liked how you put your fingers in me and pressed your thumb on that one spot and kissed me when you gave me an orgasm.”

Glimmer can tell just from Hordak’s voice that he is grinning like a lizard person. “The way you breathed when I did that . . . how slick you were . . . I liked that too.”

“I see that. Your face looks the same, all flushed,” Entrapta says. “I am attracted to you very much right now.”

“I am also . . . very . . . may I touch myself while we talk?” he begs. Surely Prime would deride his brother for such submissiveness, but Hordak seems to relish the role. 

Entrapta sounds out of breath but pleased. “Yes. I’m going to watch while you do it.” 

This should be revolting given that it’s Entrapta and Hordak messing around right after accepting official directives, but the needy timbre of Hordak’s voice and the easy confidence in Entrapta’s words keeps Glimmer captivated.

Not that there’s many words, after a certain point. Hordak and Entrapta regress from full sentences to short phrases to amorous sighs. Glimmer presses her hand to her mouth and does her best to stay silent so she doesn’t get caught.

After Hordak and Entrapta both -- finish, come, whatever, it’s mortifying to hear but impossible to stop listening to -- they snap back into business mode, strangely quickly. They argue a bit about some First Ones tech, make brief plans to speak again, and disconnect.

 _Well, that happened._ Glimmer looks out the window at the darkening sky. It’s time to get back to planning, and developing spells, and ignoring the heat in her abdomen.

*_*_*_*_*

Glimmer slowly circles Prime in his cell, the first time she has visited him without a light curtain protecting her. “Are you comfortable?” she asks.

“No.” Prime stands hunched over, magically chained at the wrists, ankles, neck and torso to an enormous eye hook that’s been drilled into the middle of the floor. If his restraints fail, one of Entrapta’s murderbots is hunkered in the corner, ready to spit fireballs. “But I’m eager to begin.”

“Fine.” From a pouch concealed in the folds of her cape, Glimmer removes a handful of the pulverized Beast Island crystals. She leans down to draw the octostar enchantment around Prime and glances at him out of the corner of her eye; at that exact moment she remembers Hordak’s aroused moans. She turns away so Prime can’t see her face. “Remember what I said.”

“Yes, I recall,” Prime says. “We’re going to run an experiment of the imagination. Just two rulers finding a way to come to an agreement about mutual concerns.”

“You’re not a ruler anymore,” she growls before she can stop herself. _Careful. Don’t show your true feelings._

Prime’s expression darkens, but he says nothing. Apparently he is working to keep himself under control as well.

Glimmer leans down again and adds glittering diamonds around the edges. “Once I’m finished, I’ll activate the circle and face you, and we should be able to see one another’s thoughts at the same time.” 

She whispers a binding incantation and draws the final critical lines. “This spell allows for a visual exchange. It has some of the same properties as a truth spell, but instead of a verbal interaction, we’ll be able to see one another’s thoughts.” She holds up a gleaming stone attached to a thin gold chain around her neck. “And just in case you try to pull something, this charm blocks you from finding anything I don’t wish to share with you.” She doesn’t tell Prime that the charm is supposed to surreptitiously alert her when he is lying. Hopefully the Mystacor sorcerers and Hordak got the properties right, and this bauble will counteract what Glimmer suspects Prime is using to circumvent a conventional truth spell.

“It would be so much simpler if you would allow me to hold your face.” Prime is smirking, but his voice trails off at the end. 

“I’m no fool,” Glimmer says as she examines her spellwork. “You’re never putting your hands on me again.”

“So you say.” Prime shifts his weight, and his chains jangle. “Perhaps you’ll change your mind after this.”

Glimmer raises one eyebrow. “Perhaps you’ll decide that Despondos is the better choice for you.”

For once, Prime has no retort. Good.

She approaches Prime and presses one dust-covered thumb to his scarred forehead and the other to the grey-blue skin of his exposed throat; then she steps back and confirms that he is sufficiently marked for magic. The circle lights up as she chants the incantation. She closes her eyes.

Suddenly Glimmer is perched on the Bright Moon throne, and impossibly, Prime is sitting across from her on the commander's chair that was destroyed years ago when his spaceship exploded. His regalia has been restored to its former Horde glory, his face and arms are unscathed, and all four of his eyes are riveted on her.

“Excellent,” Prime says as he rises from his imaginary seat. He stalks toward Glimmer and quickly reaches the steps to her throne. 

Glimmer leaps up and makes a show of attempting to summon her magic, which of course doesn’t work here. Her fear, however, is no act.

She is still pretending to try to spark a ball of light when he reaches the landing and grabs the front of her robes. He lifts her as if she weighs no more than a feather and brings her close to his face as her arms flap uselessly. “Show me what you learned when you spied on my brother,” he hisses.

The charm at Glimmer’s neck warms up, preparing to block Prime from her knowledge, but she suppresses the magic. She remembers what Hordak said when she told him parts of her plan a few days earlier. _Let my brother believe that he is winning, and his arrogance will do the rest of the work for you._ Of course, Hordak has no idea that Glimmer now possesses so many memories about his private life that Prime is desperate to see.

Glimmer allows Prime to swirl into the folds of her mind, to find her recollections of Hordak’s explicit holos, letters, and conversations with Entrapta. 

“You’ve investigated that weakling very, very thoroughly,” Prime comments as he saunters through Glimmer’s mental images. There is an especially clear one of Entrapta wrapping Hordak in her violet tendrils as he writhes in pleasure. “My brother’s actions are repulsive, but predictable.”

“You’re the predictable one. You said you wanted to learn about me, but you went straight for Hordak,” Glimmer says as she brings Prime back into the room with the two thrones.

Prime lowers Glimmer to the floor and places his clawed hands on either side of her face. “Is that what you’ve wanted all along? To do that to my brother?"

“What? No! Gross!” 

Prime continues as if he doesn't hear her. "I know you’re lonely, but a queen deserves better than that inferior underling.”

The image of Bow’s smile flits through Glimmer's mind, but the charm suppresses the memory before Prime can see. “Stop thinking about Hordak.” Glimmer tilts her chin up and sticks out her lower lip. “Think about me.”

The corners of Prime’s mouth curl up, and his hands slip from Glimmer’s face to her neck. “Oh, I think about you, little queen.” His thumbs graze the skin of her throat. “I think about how you could have served me, if you hadn’t run off.” He presses down on her shoulders, and his claws snag the silk of her cape. “I think about how I could serve you now.” 

Back in the cell, Glimmer’s pendant pulses for the first time with Prime’s lies. She plants her feet to steady herself, and her heart thumps so hard that she can barely breathe. She opens her eyes long enough to see that Prime is now kneeling on the floor with his head bowed, as if in a trance.

Her tongue is thick in her mouth as she closes her eyes and returns to the imaginary throne room. “Show me.” 

Prime smiles hungrily. Four green eyes slide from Glimmer’s face down to her abdomen, peering past her royal robes and through her skin and into her soft, vulnerable guts. “Here is what we could have done together, with the full power of the Horde behind us," he says back inside her head. “What we could still do together.”

He claims the Bright Moon throne for himself, then pulls Glimmer into his lap. Before she can protest, everything starts spinning in a green-black mist, and when the fog dissipates, the once familiar room is draped with green and silver banners. She looks down and sees that her pastel robes have been replaced by a Horde jumpsuit with a high collar. She tries to move, but Prime holds her fast to him with his palm against her stomach.

On either side of the room, people from every corner of the galaxy kneel before the throne: Etherians, Eternians, Trollans and more; sorcerers and scientists; lizard people and Horde clones and humans. All bow with misery written across their diverse faces.

On the floor at the foot of the staircase is a pile of bones and blue rags. Stabbed through the center is a staff topped with a horned animal’s skull, with blood dripping from the eye sockets.

Glimmer gasps. “Is that --”

“Yes,” Prime whispers in Glimmer’s ear. “This is what you want, isn’t it?” One of his thick white tendrils strokes her cheek. 

“But --” Glimmer furrows her brows. Room decor choices and levels of violence aside, this is essentially right. But it shouldn’t be what Prime wants, not if Skeletor is truly his ally. The pendant should be indicating that this is all a lie --

"You don't have to compromise with Skeletor. With my help you could destroy him forever." 

“But he’s your ally --”

“He is,” Prime seems to agree, but then the pendant pulses again, disproving his words. He must hate Skeletor as much as Glimmer does. “But that has always been a partnership of convenience.” The pendant continues its steady thrum.

"So you’ve changed your mind?” Glimmer asks, wishing her voice sounded stronger. 

Prime chortles, and his breath feels hot against the back of Glimmer’s neck. "Not exactly. I told you before that I understand the loneliness that comes with ruling. I have never found anyone who could equal my own abilities. Certainly not Skeletor. You, on the other hand --" The pendant pulses again. “You have potential.”

“I never got the impression that you felt that way,” Glimmer says, and she tells herself, _Ignore the honeyed words; they are laced with poison._

"I didn’t say that you _do_ equal my abilities. Merely that you could. With the guidance of an experienced partner.” He brushes the back of her hand with his fingers. “I have seen you grow wise in the years since you defeated me.”

Glimmer's ears ring with the alluring lies even as the pendant vibrates against her heart. She turns around and looks at Prime’s unscarred, power-craving face just a breath away from hers. Her stomach churns, even as her body responds to his heat at her back.

"You think I have grown?" she whispers, her mouth nearly touching his. 

"You’re not so different from me anymore," he says. “Or perhaps you’ve always been more like me than you have ever admitted to yourself.”

Glimmer finally remembers to breathe. She murmurs a debinding spell and opens her eyes, and the circle in Prime's cell melts into the floor. 

Prime is still kneeling, but now he is looking up at her with a victorious gleam in his eyes. "Let’s do this again," he says. "And think about my proposal."

Glimmer doesn't bother to answer. She teleports back to her chambers and grabs her tablet from her nightstand.

 _My hunch was right. Skeletor is no longer a friend of your brother’s, or maybe he never was,_ she types to Hordak. Her hands shake so badly that she has to correct her spelling many times before the message is readable. _Implement the next stage of the plan._

Glimmer tears the pendant from her neck and tosses it into a drawer. She flops into a pile of pillows, stares up at the vaulted ceiling, and tries to slow her pounding heart. 

After that performance of Prime’s, she should be burning with fury. She’s hot alright, but it’s not fury that is fueling her fire.

*_*_*_*_*_*

[to be continued soon, I promise!]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm closer than not to finishing this thing up. Hope to post the rest soon! Thank you for your kudos and especially(!!!) your comments!


	4. Chapter 4

_Thank you, Aunt Casta,_ Glimmer punches into her tablet as she sits upon Bright Moon’s real throne a few days later. _Please convey my appreciation to the Mystacor sorcerers for their work to confirm my suspicions about the prisoner’s ongoing ability to obscure his thoughts. I know just what to do next time --_

“You wish to speak with me, my queen?” Hordak asks from the doorway, interrupting Glimmer’s frantic typing.

 _I wish you didn't sound exactly like your brother,_ Glimmer thinks but doesn’t say. Even though Hordak's dark hair and red eyes have been restored, even though the Horde wings have been scratched from his exosuit’s torso, even though the blue scars snake up above his collar, his voice is still Prime’s. 

Instead she answers, “Yes, Lord Hordak. Approach.” 

Hordak’s footsteps echo on the smooth marble floor as he walks forward.

Glimmer grasps her staff. _He’s not Prime,_ she reminds herself. _He’s here to help._ She loosens her grip and leans back. "Did you succeed with the task I gave you?"

He nods. "The delegation from Snake Mountain has agreed to your terms, and they plan to arrive late tonight.”

"Good." She glances down at a new message on her device and inputs a quick response. “I have news for you as well. Entrapta’s ship has landed, and she requested to see you right away. I told her to come here.”

Hordak’s eyes widen, and his lips flatten in a close-lipped smile. “I am pleased to hear it.”

“Yes, well, Entrapta can never concentrate on official business until she has the chance to confirm you are still in one piece.” Glimmer runs a gloved hand through her hair. 

“Princess Entrapta knows that you treat me well. She and I communicate frequently.” 

“Yes, I’m -- aware.” _Much more than you know._

Hordak blinks and his ears sway back. That, at least, is totally un-Prime-like.

Glimmer shifts in her seat. “Anyway, once we have neutralized Skeletor, the two of you may return to Beast Island." _And have all the weird reunion sex you want, far from my screen feeds and digital files,_ she doesn’t add. "She's been gone from home for a long time."

“Over forty days,” Hordak says as he glances back at the large doors behind him. His eagerness is actually kind of sweet. It helps to remind Glimmer that he definitely isn’t his brother.

Glimmer gives Hordak a conciliatory smile. “It’s clear how much you miss Entrapta.”

“You have no idea,” Hordak agrees breathily. Awkward.

Something loud and fast-moving thuds outside the throne room. The doors bang open, and a bouncing ball of violet rockets toward Hordak. 

Entrapta pounces on her partner, who catches her in his arms and submits to her barrage of violent kisses. “What are you wearing --?” Hordak tries to ask as Entrapta smashes her mouth against his.

Bright Moon's general scuttles in soon after, her white robes fluttering and her helmet tilted to the side. She clutches the door frame and gasps for breath as she says, “I’m sorry, your majesty, but the princess wouldn't wait --”

“It’s fine.” Glimmer dismisses the general with a wave. “Welcome home, Princess Entrapta. Judging from your current attire, I see you adapted quickly to Eternia.” 

Entrapta doesn't even glance in Glimmer's direction. The scientist is too busy poking at Hordak’s armor, and rubbing his ears, and checking his teeth --

“I said, I see you adapted quickly to Eternia.” Glimmer bangs her staff on the floor to get Entrapta’s attention.

“Oh! Right! Hello, you!” Entrapta grins as she slides from Hordak’s arms. She gestures to her torso, where a variety of harness straps criss-cross over a tight indigo tunic thing. “Bow made me put on this stuff to blend in with the Eternians. You should see what _he’s_ wearing.” She adjusts the short skirt and kicks the toe of her boot against the stone floor. “Nobody wears pants on Eternia,” she whispers loudly to Hordak, who is eyeballing Entrapta's prickly bare legs like a starving person at a feast.

Glimmer taps her fingers against the arm rest and tries to think about something other than Bow not wearing pants. “Entrapta, I know you already sent messages saying that the Eternians agreed to our proposal, but is there anything else I should know immediately? Any highlights of your time on the planet?”

“Uh, nope! It was a good trip. A great trip. I'm glad to be home.” Entrapta’s hair coils around Hordak's waist and pulls him close to her. “But I have some things I need to do to -- I mean, some things I need to talk about with Hordak. Right now.” 

Hordak can sometimes redirect his authority-flouting partner when she is hyper-focusing on the wrong things, but at the moment he's being totally useless. He sways in Entrapta’s hair, flush-faced and slack-jawed and practically drooling.

Glimmer glares at the ceiling. “How about King Randor and Queen Marlena? Any further news?” 

“What? Oh yeah, them.” Entrapta ceases tickling Hordak under the chin with a purple tendrils. She extracts a scroll from the depths of a ponytail and deposits it on Glimmer’s lap. “They asked me to give you this letter from Prince Adam. No idea why they didn't just beam a message to your tablet. Anyway, the prince wants to meet you or something.” She grabs Hordak’s hand and drags him toward the door. "Gotta go."

“We’ll take our leave, unless you object,” Hordak says perfunctorily over his shoulder as Entrapta tugs him out of Glimmer’s sight. “Wait! Don’t take that off until we get to our room!” his voice reverberates as Entrapta’s cackle echoes down the hallway.

Glimmer sighs, then slouches against the throne. She dissolves her staff and unrolls the scroll, which, from what she knows of Eternia, is a type of communication reserved for only the most formal correspondence. Her eyes glaze over as she stumbles through the long-winded greetings, and her mind wanders back to thoughts of Hordak and Entrapta. Now that the two of them are actually in the same room, they must be about to get up to the most perverted stuff --

 _Pay attention!_ Glimmer forces herself to speed through the missive’s expressions of enthusiastic agreement with Princess Entrapta’s proposal to rid their planet of Skeletor, and promises of technological trade, and congratulations for Queen Regent Angella and King Micah's safe return. 

Around paragraph twenty, Prince Adam finally gets to the point: he makes a polite inquiry about Glimmer’s marital status and offers to discuss potential future alliances. He hints that a marriage could mitigate the inevitable new threats after Skeletor has been dispatched for good. It’s just like so many other letters that Glimmer has recently received from princes and princesses across the galaxy. Just like so many she has ignored while waiting for Bow to -- do something. Anything, besides calling her crazy for trying to outsmart Prime and failing to send an apology.

A nasally moan resounds through the hall. There are no polite inquiries happening in Hordak and Entrapta’s room, that's for sure.

Glimmer crosses her legs and closes her eyes. Maybe she should marry some wordy prince or princess she’s never met. Then she wouldn’t be stuck on her throne, thinking about Hordak's expression as he undresses Entrapta. Or Bow's mysterious, pants-free outfit. Or Prime's claws grazing her throat --

A savage grunt tears through the silence.

Glimmer’s teleportation magic tingles in the center of her chest.

She shouldn’t do it. It’s one thing to read digital messages during an investigation, or to listen in on a private feed by accident, but it's just wrong to spy on people having sex. 

"Yes!" Entrapta's unmistakably aroused voice echoes through the palace.

Bow would tell her not to do it. He'd argue with her about safety and privacy and respect.

Glimmer tosses the letter aside. She evaporates into the air.

Glimmer reappears on a ledge below the guest room’s circular window. The night should conceal her well enough, but she pulls her cape collar up around her face just in case. She silently casts a spell over the room so that she can hear everything that Hordak and Entrapta say, then turns around and takes a peek. 

Entrapta and Hordak are embracing in the middle of the room, entwined in a tangle of arms and violet hair. Exosuit components and dark blue clothes are strewn about the floor, and Hordak himself stands tall and lean and bare, his mottled blue and white skin exposed but for a wisp of an undergarment covering his groin. It's hard to look at him without thinking of his big brother in a similar state.

As for Entrapta, other than having removed her boots, she is still fully dressed in Eternian attire. 

Hordak seems to be reveling in that fact. “It’s been far too long since I’ve seen your bare skin,” he growls as he falls to his knees before her.

Entrapta smiles and kisses Hordak’s nasal slit. “I don’t really like wearing these tunic things, but there is one benefit I want to show you.”

“Please do,” Hordak begs as he grasps his partner’s hips.

Entrapta steps back and reaches under the skirt and pulls off her panties, then merrily tosses them out the window. 

Glimmer ducks just in time, and the underpants land in a nearby tree branch. She counts to ten and looks inside once again.

Hordak is now on all fours, rubbing his face against Entrapta’s legs. He looks like he’s about to faint from desire.

Entrapta laughs as her hair snakes around Hordak’s limbs. “Time to put you where I want you.” Her purple tendrils tighten around his wrists and ankles. Using her ponytails, Entrapta lifts Hordak into the air, then slams him down roughly onto the nearby mattress. 

As Hordak struggles against his bindings, Glimmer expects him to protest, but despite his immobilization -- or possibly because of it -- he smiles invitingly at Entrapta. Beneath the thin undergarment, his erection juts out as proud and upright as a First Ones beacon.

Without releasing Hordak, Entrapta crawls up his body. She pauses long enough to nuzzle her face against his covered groin, and he whines pitifully, but she keeps going until she’s sitting on his chest with her knees on his shoulders. “My coveralls are generally preferable for lab work, but I might wear this outfit on some future occasion when we are working, given that our scientific discoveries so often lead to our mutual arousal." She bites her lip and rocks forward onto Hordak’s face. "This easy access skirt could improve sexual satisfaction efficiency. And science is always on the side of improving efficiency. And I am always on the side of science!”

“Mmph,” Hordak responds. Entrapta releases his wrists as she grinds against him. He wraps his arms around her thighs and presses his claws into her skin. Soon his mouth is making squelching sounds between her legs.

"Yes, perfect," Entrapta breathes. A sweat stain darkens the fabric between her shoulder blades. As Hordak grunts, Entrapta shushes him. "Don't talk. Just keep doing that." 

Seeing Hordak submit so completely to Entrapta’s orders, instead of just imagining it, is so, so weird. 

"Don't stop," Entrapta pants. "Keep doing it --"

So weird. And so . . . hot. 

Entrapta comes with an edifice-shaking groan. All of Bright Moon -- indeed, all of the Whispering Woods -- now knows what Hordak can do with his tongue.

Glimmer swallows.

Entrapta pitches forward and lands with her face in a pillow and her bare butt in the air.

Hordak rolls to the side and strokes his lover's body. "Entrapta," he whispers reverently.

"I need a minute," she croaks. She clumsily pats his face with her ponytail.

Hordak wipes his mouth with the bedsheet and then gently nudges Entrapta until she lies down on the mattress. With a chuckle, he sits up and strokes her Eternian harness. "Let me undress you.”

“Sure. I’m tired,” Entrapta complains as Hordak unbuckles her harness. “Space-lag is no joke.”

“I told you,” Hordak smiles down at her. He pulls her tunic over her head and drops it on the floor. “I’ll go with you next time.”

“You sure will,” Entrapta yawns. “I experimented with adjusting the gravity levels inside the spaceship to see if that would be something we could enjoy together. It is, by the way. But Bow wasn’t very happy. He fell to the floor a few times when I forgot to warn him.” She stretches and gives Hordak a content smile. Then she looks down at him. “I still have to take care of you.”

“Relax.” Hordak sits up and shimmies out of his underpants, and his pale, muscular buttocks flash bright in the moonlight.

Entrapta spreads her legs and holds her arms out. "Go slow. I feel lazy."

Hordak smirks and settles into her embrace. Purple hair wraps around his nude form and obscures their bodies from view. 

Entrapta giggles, then gasps as Hordak thrusts forward. "Wow. That never gets old," she rasps as Hordak kisses her.

"No," Hordak replies around Entrapta's tongue. “It never does.” He thrusts again and they both sigh.

A cloud covers the moons and plunges the room into darkness. 

"Crap," Glimmer mutters. She can still hear Entrapta and Hordak, whose heavy breaths are rapidly morphing into grunts, but she must use her imagination for what they might look like. 

Hordak and Entrapta reach a crescendo again quite quickly, except this time with twice as much noise.

All is quiet until Hordak whispers, “I missed you."

“I missed you too,” Entrapta answers in the darkness.

Their voices grow grow faint as Glimmer’s amplification spell wears off. Soon all she can hear is the wind in the trees. She summons her magic and teleports off the ledge.

She lands on her own bed in her private chambers. She rips off her gloves and thrusts a hand past her waistband and into her sopping panties. 

She should think about Bow, with his kind eyes and flat abs and nimble fingers. But she's still mad at him. And that’s not what she wants, not now, while her mind swirls with images of tall, pale Horde leaders. In her mind she rocks atop that terrible, frightening face -- that arrogant, deceptive dictator who deserves to be forced to kneel before a queen.

After she comes, everything is so much clearer. She has everything she needs to end this for good, and it's time to do it.

She wipes her hand on the blanket and picks up the tablet beside her bed to send a quick message to Hordak and Entrapta, commanding them to meet her in the dungeons first thing in the morning. She stares at the display for a few moments, and then, before she can think too much about it, she sends the same command to Bow.

She falls asleep almost instantly, and she dreams of a throne surrounded by glowing green eyes.

*_*_*_*_*

[one more chapter!]


End file.
